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Our Work

Our Work

We at Garden Cottage antiques restore, refurbish, repair, and refinish many large types of furniture, kitchen cabinets, tables, chairs, mantles, and pretty much anything.

At this time we are not taking any additional outside work due to a barn full, garage full, and 4 storage buildings full of many items that need our attention. When we are able to take on future work you will be the first to know. We will be posting pictures of items completed for purchase and ongoing projects along with before and after photos. Thank you for your understanding and patience at this time.

Services We Provide

  • Refurbishing and Restoration (minor repairs) of Antiques 
  • Hoosier Cabinet Restoration 
  • Chalk Painting and Distressing
  • Labor: Typically $10.00 per hour
  • Material Cost: Actual sanding disc, paint brushes, razor blades etc. are thrown into a bin and counted at the end of the process. This helps us to determine our cost of materials for each job. We add 5% to our cost of the items. 
  • Paint, Poly, Stain: We begin the project with a new can of product used in the process. We buy our paints and stains in quart cans. We only charge by what is used from the can. Ex. if we only use a 1/4 of the quart we divide the cost of the whole can by four and mark it up 5 % and that is what you are charge with. Same with a partial can. 
  • Any repairs done will be charged on a case by case basis. If we replace a board or side panel, make a piece to go on something etc. We will use the same species of wood on any repair or replacement if at all possible. 

Flat Rates or Quotes: This again, is a case by case basis. We normally do not provide this kind of rate due to the fact that until you get into the piece you can’t always know what is lurking underneath. It would only be provided upon thorough on site inspection. 

We usually only restore and refinish local pieces. It is up to the individual to deliver said piece and pickup. Payment is expected in full after your review of detailed bill and inspection before piece is picked up.  

Current Project

AntiquePie Safe
ProcessCleaning process
Time to restore54 hours at this time
Value$$$

Project Description

100 year old Pie Safe under restoration from Lana Carson of Troy. This piece had 4 layers of paint. As it was sanded and paint layers removed we discovered that it had once been repaired with plywood. We removed one board from the top and replaced it with a board of same wood species. The sides had also been replaced with plain old plywood which I placed poplar wood veneer over it. Someone had filled every nail hole, crack, seam, and spot on this piece with white spackling which had to be scraped out with razor blades. The bottom door piece was rotten and the tenon was broken off inside of corresponding door frame. This piece had to be made and replaced using same wood species. The tin was another story. After using two kinds of stripper and two days of many coats, I finally was able to finish getting the paint off and out of the holes with a bench mount wire brush on a grinding wheel. I then applied a coat of clear coating to keep tin from rusting. The inside was painted white with the exception of the shelving which will remain natural. This piece is in the home stretch after many days of preparing it for stain and poly coat. The lesson here is when you start unmasking many years of paint you can bet you are going to find the hidden problems.

Before

After